Chasing Rainbows
by the sleepy queen
Summary: Snapshots of Renji and Rukia. 02: "We're not lost," Renji insisted, staring alternately at the sky and the compass with a perplexed look on his face.
1. Literacy

**01:** Literacy

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"Where the hell'd you get this thing from?"

"It's a _book_, Renji. I found it last time we were in town," Rukia replied, sighing. Of course, by "found," she meant "stole," but she was confident Renji could figure that out by himself. It wasn't as if they had any money, let alone spare money.

Renji moved the book from his right hand to his left as if he was weighing it before opening it and staring at the foreign symbols quizzically.

"Y'know, I didn't think anyone in Rukongai even had books. I mean, there's no schools for learnin' to read or nothing," He said after finally putting the book down, satisfied that staring at the symbols wouldn't uncover the secrets painted in the letters.

"Anything," Rukia corrected, picking up the book and holding it close to her chest. Usually, at this point, Renji would call her an annoying know-it-all, but instead they lapsed into a comfortable silence.

That night, Rukia found Renji holding the book again, staring at the illustration of old man on the cover.

"Do you want to know what it 's about?" She asked, coming up from behind him. Renji jumped slightly, and dropped the book, embarrassed.

"Don't scare me like that, midget!"

Rukia twitched at the slight, but ignored it for the time being. She'd get back at him later.

"It's a play about an old king named Lear. I think it's from overseas somewhere."

"What happens to 'im?" Renji said, leaning against a tree and trying his hardest to feign disinterest.

"Well," Rukia said carefully, noting the obvious curiosity in Renji's eyes, "I haven't read it yet, so I can't tell you."

"Oh."

"And summarizing is really dull, so it'd probably be easier if we just read it together."

Renji opened his mouth, ready to confess his illiteracy (although he was sure that Rukia already knew), when she flipped the book open and interrupted him.

"Scene one. Enter Kent, Gloucester, and Edmund. Kent: I thought the King had more affected the Duke of Albany than Cornwall."

And they next few evenings were spent under the crabapple trees, with Rukia reading aloud and Renji listening intently, interrupting only to ask relevant questions.

It was the fourth time Rukia had read _King Lear._

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__**AN:** And so begins my Renji/Rukia drabble collection!


	2. Compass

**02:** Compass

* * *

"Renji, we're lost," Rukia said as she discreetly wiped an errant bead of sweat from her brow and glared at Renji, who had abruptly stopped walking. They two of them were deep in one of Rukongai's few forests, led through the dense trees by only by a stolen old compass and the stars.

"We're _not_ lost," Renji insisted, staring alternately at the sky and the compass with a perplexed look on his face. "Am I holding this right? Or is it upside down?"

"We've passed by those purple flowers at least four times already so whatever you're doing is not working." Sighing, Rukia sat down next to the colorful blossoms, resigned to her fate of being lost in the wilderness for eternity. Or however long it took for them to starve and die.

"Maybe there's no north here," Renji mused, sitting down next to the increasingly sleepy Rukia. She simply glared instead of answering him. She _knew_ that trying to navigate the forest in the dark wasn't going to end well. She _told_ him that they should've stayed the night on the roof of that inn they had passed. Stupid boy.

Sensing Rukia's almost palpable irritation, Renji didn't bother trying to engage her in conversation. Instead, he leaned over her and carefully plucked the biggest violet.

Mumbling something that sounded suspiciously like "Sorry for getting us lost" (although he'd never admit it), Renji pushed the bloom into Rukia's hand.

"What am I supposed to do with this?" Rukia asked, arching an eyebrow and looking utterly unimpressed by the flower.

The light blush already adorning Renji's cheeks deepened until his face matched his hair. "Aren't girls are supposed to like flowers and shit?" He replied, a little too loudly.

"Maybe stupid girls," Rukia said, rolling her eyes. "C'mon. Let's go." She stood up in one fluid motion and started walking in a random direction. Renji shook his head and followed. Stupid complicated girls.

When she thought he wasn't looking, Rukia slipped the violet into her pocket.

Renji could barely hide his smile.

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**AN:** Reviews make me happy :)


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